1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a helicopter deck for a ship, having a greater transverse extension than the breadth of the ship.
If a helicopter deck is to be mounted on a ship, it may often be necessary for said deck to have a greater transverse extension than the breadth of the ship. This may be either be because a very large helicopter deck is required for various reasons, or because the ship that is to support the helicopter deck is relatively narrow.
2. Prior Art
Helicopter decks have been built on smaller vessels where the sides of the deck have extended beyond the sides of the ship. This is in many ways an unfavorable solution. First, the projecting parts of the helicopter deck would be in the way when the ship is to come along quay, and the wide design would have an unfavorable effect on the stability of the ship, and would be exposed to snow, ice and wind.
From U.S. Pat. No. 4,665,857 there is known a helicopter deck for a ship that consists of a deck section that may be raised and lowered, which section in raised position forms a central part of a helicopter deck that has been expanded on both sides with horizontally movable deck sections. The central deck section may be lowered, e.g., with a helicopter standing thereon, and the horizontally movable deck sections are moved inward over the central deck section, thus forming a type of hangar for the helicopter. This is obviously a very expensive and complicated solution, although it may seem elegant.
There are also known other simpler solutions for expandable decks wherein expanding deck sections are hinged to the longitudinal sides of a central deck. Such an arrangement is also complicated in that it requires very solid hinges and complicated pivot devices for the expanding deck sections.